High-tech jobs remain an unfulfilled vision in Mexico

High-tech jobs: Vision unfulfilled

Published 5:30 am, Sunday, July 23, 2006

During the first half of 2006, more than 546,000 jobs were added in Mexico — the best showing during President Vicente Fox's six-year term.

A closer look at the statistic reveals this growth is failing to provide many workers with jobs offering security and the potential for economic advancement.

The strongest job growth was in construction and tourism, where many of the positions are seasonal, according to the Mexican Center for Analysis and Economic Projections, known as CAPEM.

"The majority of the new jobs being created are temporary with short-term contracts," said Cesar Castro Quiroz, the director of economic analysis for CAPEM. "The new jobs are generally poor in quality," he added.

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Some government officials have set lofty goals for moving Mexican businesses into high-tech industries. In a handful of northern states, officials have announced plans to encourage growth in information technology, biotechnology and software.

But some businesses leaders say that they'd like to see more efforts to encourage innovation within existing businesses.

One of those is Sergio Luna, the former director of the Textile Technology Center, a training center in Aguas-
calientes. Before it closed in March, the center offered apparel plants assistance with design and cost-reduction.

According to Luna, the Fox administration has focused on supporting technology in the wrong sectors.

Need for innovation

"This administration provided a lot of support technology, but not for innovation," Luna said. "Funds were available for the biotech sectors, but the industrial textile sectors were virtually ignored."

Luna is hoping the state government of Aguascalientes will help him reopen the center so that he can work with apparel plants to help them cut costs.

According to Armando Jimenez San Vicente, the director of Aguascalientes' state economic development office, the state has shifted its focus away from maquiladoras making clothing for export.

"Aguascalientes has experienced a recuperation since the closure of so many maquiladoras," said Jimenez San Vicente. "Our auto, furniture, high-tech, software manufacturing, information technology and call-center sectors are all growing."

The states that would seem to have the best chances for promoting high-tech jobs are the ones with a large industrial base: Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosí, Queretero and Aguascalientes.

Seeking foreign investors

Economic boosters in these states hope to attract foreign investment in these sectors and highlight the advantages of relocating to Mexico: proximity to the U.S. border, lower labor costs and technological training opportunities.

The biggest push has been by the state of Nuevo Leon, which has launched the Monterrey Project: International City of Knowledge. The project includes developing what it calls the Innovation and Technological Development Park in Monterrey with the help of the University of Texas.

But this is a long-term effort.

"I'm not sure how Aguascalientes, or any of the other states that want to become big high-tech manufacturers, are going to build up those sectors without a strategic vision," said Salvador Rodriguez, a former stuffed-animal manufacturer in Aguascalientes. "We're just not training enough people for those fields yet."

Jimenez San Vicente hopes that by 2010, information technology jobs will surpass construction jobs, which now make up 18 percent of the employment mix.

"We have an ideal location, good human resources and well-educated people," he said.

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But some, like Rodriguez, are skeptical of the state's vision. "I haven't seen the results of economic growth strategies here yet," he said. "We need schools to teach information technology like they are doing in China; there just aren't enough training centers here."